Bjornsson sends warning to Hall after knockout win over Larratt

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Thor Bjornsson sent out a warning to strongman rival Eddie Hall as he stopped arm-wrestling legend Devon Larratt in the very first round of their clash in a heavyweight contest at Fight Night-3 in Dubai.

Bjornsson came flying out of the blocks in round one, piling on the pressure against Larratt, who appeared to be extremely nervous.

The onslaught proved to be too much, with the referee jumping in to wave off the contest, and hand Bjornsson an extremely impressive win.

“Devon is such a warrior, he has the greatest heart,” Bjornsson said.

 “I know that fellow is something else, taking the battle on five-week take note is courageous but coming here is mind-blowing. “You folks know who I need to battle, come on who is it? I know he is at domestic chilling on the couch with his popcorn and cola. Appreciate your life buddy, I am gonna thump you out soon.”

Jacob Heppner came out on top in the battle of CrossFit rivals, as he overcame Josh Bridges in their highly-anticipated showdown.

It was made clear in the build-up that the two men were friends, but they didn't let that get in the way during the fight, with both boxers swinging for the fences and doing their best to land clean on their opponent.

It was Heppner who got the better of the exchanges, and he did enough in the eyes of the judges to earn the win, with plenty of respect shown between the CrossFit legends after the fight.

Anthony de Bruijn secured the tenth win of his professional career as he claimed a dominant points win over experienced Giorgi Gachechiladze.

Dubai-based-Dutchman de Bruijn (10-0-1, 6 KOs) dictated proceedings from start to finish, but Gachechiladze has previously gone the distance with the likes of Jordan Gill and Thomas Patrick Ward during his career.

He displayed his toughness once again, going all eight rounds against De Bruijn, but it was a convincing win for the 27-year-old, who notched up the 10th victory of his professional career.

Heavyweight sensation Martin Bakole returned to the ring in style as he needed less than a round to knock out Haruna Osumanu.

Bakole (17-1, 13 KOs) was competing for the first time since December 2020, and he proved yet again to have huge power in his hands, with his stoppage win over Osumanu (11-3, 7 KOs) coming in just 150 seconds.

Bakole will now look to build on his high rankings in the governing bodies, as he is currently ranked #14 with the WBC, #15 with the IBF and #15 with the WBA.

Stefi Cohen remains unbeaten in her professional boxing career as she drew with undefeated Marcela Nieto after four hard-fought rounds of action.

Cohen (1-0-1, 1 KO) is a 25-time world-record-holding powerlifter and the first woman in the history of the sport to deadlift 4.4x her body weight, and is now looking to add to her incredible achievements by making the move into boxing.

She was successful in her debut back in June, but had to settle for a draw on this occasion, with Nieto (2-0-1, 1 KO) giving as good as she got, with nothing to split the two women after they both had success during the fight.

Avril Mathie continues to go from strength to strength in her career as she earned another impressive victory by defeating previously unbeaten Jesca Mfinanga.

Mathie (7-0-1, 3 KOs) was in control throughout the majority of the fight, but Mfinanga (2-1-1) managed to last the distance, with the bout going all six rounds.

There was only one winner though, with Mathie deservedly getting her arm raised to come out on top on points, extending her unbeaten record and inflicting the first defeat of Mfinanga's career.